§ Mr. Batisteasked the Secretary of State for the Environment whether he will make a statement about the outcome of the Council of Environment Ministers meeting on 7 March.
§ Mr. WaldegraveI was accompanied at this meeting by my hon. Friend the Member for Coventry, South-West (Mr. Butcher), Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Trade and Industry.
On the most important issue before this meeting of the Council, new limits for vehicle emissions, there was no agreement despite considerable efforts by the Ministers of a number of member states, including the United Kingdom, to reach a satisfactory compromise. The Council was therefore unable to make further progress on the introduction of unleaded petrol and cars to run on it. Discussion will be resumed at a meeting of the Council to be held on 20 March.
The withdrawal of the Danish Government's reservations enabled the Council to reach agreement on the draft directive on the environmental assessment of certain public and private projects.
The Council briefly reviewed progress of the negotiations on the draft directive on the limitation of emissions from large combustion plants.
The Council again discussed the draft directive on the recycling of beverage containers. In order to make further progress it is expected that the Commission will bring forward assurances about the manner in which it would subsequently consider notifications by member states of any proposed measures in accordance with the terms of the draft directive.
15WThe Council agreed that discussions on the draft directive on waste from the titanium dioxide industry should now take into account a proposal from the Council Presidency which includes the application of environmental quality objectives.
A proposal for a directive to impose restrictions on the marketing and use of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and polychlorienated terphenyls (PCTs) was considered for the first time. Good progress was reported and there is reason for confidence that the proposal can be agreed at the Environment Council in June.
In a first discussion a general welcome was given to a new proposed directive to extend the application of the existing framework Directive (76/464/EEC) concerning the discharge of dangerous substances to water to include further substances and to adopt standard articles.
The Council formally adopted a directive on air quality standards for nitrogen dioxide.
I drew the Council's attention to the importance of integrating, in the Community, environmental protection policy with agricultural policy. I am glad to be able to report that the Commission intends to report further on this subject.